Stay Out of My Way
by vwizards
Summary: Murdoc's father and older brother decide that they want a piece of his new high-life, and come to pay him a visit. It does not go well. Rated T but that might change.
1. Chapter 1

*Friends yelling in the distance* Finish your other Gorillaz fanfic before starting a new one!

Yeah...no. I like the idea for this one better. This takes place in late phase 1, right before the band went off to Hollywood to make the movie.

* * *

It was Christmas eve at Kong Studios. The members of Gorillaz were never really big on Christmas, and usually didn't do much else other than just exchanging a gift or two and renting a holiday-themed movie. They never did anything too festive, and this Christmas eve was no different.

But on this particular Christmas eve, Murdoc Niccals awoke in his Winnebago, once again, with a bad hangover. He sat up in his bed and checked the clock. 2:30 pm. Not too bad.

Murdoc yawned and got out of bed. He went into the bathroom and momentarily considered a shower, but decided against it. What was the point? He'd only just get dirty again. Murdoc put on some jeans and exited his winne.

He sleepily went over to the lift and rode it into the higher levels of Kong Studios. His head was killing him and he needed some of 2D's large stock of painkillers. He made his way over to 2D's room and knocked on the door.

"Oy, 2D, I need some a' ya painkillers."

No answer; he knocked harder.

"Oy! Faceache! Open up!"

Still no answer.

Murdoc sighed and opened the door bitterly. He found 2D with his earbuds in his ears, stuffing clothes into a suitcase.

Murdoc yanked the earbuds out of the singer's ears. "And where are you going?"

"Mu'doc, it's Christmas eve!"

"So?"

"My parents wanted me to spend this Christmas wi' them."

Murdoc was shocked, "Parents? Since when have your parents ever cared about you?"

2D frowned, "Since ya rammed your bloody car 'frough the keyboard shop." he continued throwing stuff into his suitcase. "They said it was alright if you came too, though me mum still hates you for bouncin' a car off me head...twice."

Murdoc rolled his eyes. He would admit he wasn't on the best terms with 2D's parents, for obvious reasons. "I think I'll pass." Murdoc shoved 2D out of the way. "I need some painkillers."

Murdoc got a few painkillers, dry swallowed them, and hastily left 2D's room, wanting to leave before he did something else to 2D that'll get his parents chasing after his ass again.

After he left 2D's room, Murdoc decided he needed something to take his mind off the pounding in his head until painkillers kicked in. Time to go bother Russel. Murdoc found the large man in the living room, finishing up his latest taxidermy project.

"Oy Russ, wot ya' workin on?"

"A reindeer. I was feelin' festive. Probably gonna give it to my mom for Christmas."

Murdoc scoffed, "Not you too."

Russel turned to face Murdoc, "What do you want for Christmas, Muds?"

"Vodka." He answered bluntly.

"Come on, why you gotta be like that?"

"I don't do Christmas. Hail Satan, remember?"

"Yeah yeah, but don't you want to spend time with family and friends?"

Murdoc had to laugh at that one. "You seem to be forgetting who you're talking to."

Russel sighed, "You know your cracker ass always has a place in my heart, right next to the ulcer."

Murdoc made a face, but Russel kept talking. "I would take 2D up on his offer to spend the holidays with him if I were you, otherwise you're going to be pretty lonely around here."

"Wot? Why's that?"

"I'm headin home to Brooklyn for the next few days to spend time with some old friends-the living ones anyway. And I'm going to surprise Noodle with a trip home to Japan tomorrow morning."

Murdoc rolled his eyes, "I'm not spending all week with faceache and his parents. I'd sooner kill myself...unless his mum does it first."

Russel finished up his reindeer and put his taxidermy tools away. "Suit yourself, I have to go pack."

Russel picked up the stuffed reindeer and began to walk to his room. Murdoc was getting annoyed. What did _he_ need Chirstmas for? He was a Satanist, celebrating Christmas was literally the opposite of what Satanists do. And besides, he had spent nearly every Christmas alone as a child, thanks to that bastard father and those worthless siblings of his, so he could handle another one by himself. Murdoc went back to his winne and spent the rest of the day drinking rum and watching reruns of MTV cribs.


	2. Chapter 2

So then it was Christmas.

Murdoc awoke in his winne the next morning in front of his TV. Murdoc shivered, it had gotten considerably colder since yesterday. He put on a shirt, which happened to cover his inverted cross necklace, and left his winne. He then rode the lift upstairs.

The first thing Murdoc noticed was that it was quiet. Murdoc felt a pang of loneliness as he realized that he'll be in Kong all alone for the next week. But whatever. What did he need the others for, anyway? They're missing out on a week of band practice. When they get back, they'll probably need _hours_ to warm up. Not him, though. He'll be ready to go right from the start. Murdoc chuckled at the idea of besting his friends at something.

Murdoc went into the living room and found a bottle of vodka on the table with a big red bow tied around it sitting on the coffee table. He picked it up and noticed a card attached to the bottle as well. It read, "Merry Christmas, Muds!-Russel"

Murdoc scoffed and opened the bottle. With any luck he could send himself into an alcohol induced coma until his fellow band mates returned. Merry Christmas to him. He took a swig of Vodka and was about to head back to his winne when he heard the lift door open. Noodle scampered into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Noodle?" Murdoc looked at the small girl, puzzeled. "Wot're you doin' here?"

Noodle shrugged as she flipped through channels, "Live here."

Murdoc flopped onto the couch next to her. "I know that. But it's Christmas."

"So?"

"I thought Russel was going to send you home to Japan for the holidays, ya know, to spend time with family and shit like that."

"Said no. No celebrate Christmas. No remember family."

Murdoc looked at Noodle. He had forgotten that she didn't really have a family or celebrate Christmas either. Murdoc put the vodka down and looked at the tv. "So, whatcha watchin?"

"Anime."

"The hell's anime?"

Noodle pointed to the TV. The show that was on looked way too bright and colorful, and was in Japanese. Just looking at it gave Murdoc a headache. But hey, he had nothing better to do. So much for his coma.

He sat back on the couch next to Noodle and tried to watch this "anime", taking the occasional sip of vodka to help better understand what was happening.

After a few hours worth of episodes, Murdoc had run out of vodka, and decided that that was enough of that. "That's it, I ain't watshin any more of this crap." he turned to Noodle and spoke again. "So what is it that people usually do on Christmas?"

Noodle shrugged, "I dunno."

Murdoc got up from the couch and picked up Noodle. "I say we go out, buy more vodka, graffiti the nearest building, and waste money, just the two fo us, what do you*hic*say?"

Noodle blinked and pointed to Murdoc, "You're drunk."

"Damn right I'm drunk! But yeah...yeah yur roight. No good goin' out like this. Any other ideas?"

Noodle smiled and scampered off to her room. She soon returned with a piece of paper and handed it to Murdoc. "For you!" She said.

Murdoc attempted to focus his eyes on the paper, but was far too drunk to make heads or tails of it. Additionally, Noodle was also not the best artist in the world. Fortunately, Murdoc was also far too drunk to care.

"This's beatiful! Really somethin! Truly represents the, the uh...disease of industialism's effect on humanity. Really quite nice." Murdoc let out a loud burp.

Noodle, who could barely understand english normally, let alone whatever words Murdoc was choking out in this drunken stupor, assumed that he liked it and giggled.

For the next few hours, Murdoc continued watching MTV while Noodle played on her Gameboy. Eventually, Noodle tugged on Murdoc's pants. "I'm hungry."

"Hiya hungry, I'm Murdoc." Murdoc burst into laughter and Noodle made a confused face. _Oh right,_ Murdoc thought, _English puns don't make quite as much sense to a Japanese kid._ But Murdoc had sobered up enough to notice his stomach grumbling as well. "Hm, looks you're right kid. Time to find some food."

The two walked into the kitchen and looked around for something to eat. There was nothing exciting in the cabinets. Murdoc made a mental note to tell Russel to go shopping when he came back.

Noodle opened the fridge and smiled, "Tabemono!"

Murdoc, having no idea what 'tabemono' meant, looked into the fridge as well.

"Score!" Murdoc said. In the fridge were various tupperware containers filled with a pre-cooked Christmas dinner.

There was another note on the pile of containers. "Made a little too much food for my trip and thought you might get hungry.-Russel"

Murdoc shoved the containers in the microwave. He looked around for some utensils, but found none.

"We don't _need_ forks, do we?" Murdoc asked Noodle. Noodle smiled and shook her head no.

"Good."

Murdoc and Noodle began to dig in to the food Russel had left for them with their hands. Despite being microwaved, Russel's cooking tasted just as good as it usually does.

"Murdoc-san," Noodle said in between bites, "Why aren't you home for holidays?"

Murdoc laughed, "I don't have a home. I live in the Winnebago downstairs."

Noodle tilted her head, "No family?"

"Nah, I gots family alright. Bunch a' bastards." Murdoc said as he took a bite of turkey.

"Do not understand."

 _Don't know what bastard means yet, eh kid?_ Murdoc thought, _Good. Let's keep it that way._ "Well, I do have a family but, er, I don't know where they are. I uh, got lost when I was younger, and I haven't seen 'em since." There, that was almost the truth.

"Just like Noodle?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah, just like you I guess."

"Was Murdoc-san's family nice?"

Murdoc looked at the young guitarist, debating how to answer that. he did not particularly feel like sharing the horrors of his youth with Noodle on Christmas day, so instead he tried lying.

"Yeah, they were okay I guess...Point is, we don't need family tying us down. We have Gorillaz now, and that's all we need."

Noodle, satisfied with that answer, agreed and went back to eating.

Later that night, Murdoc was sitting on the couch, with Noodle beside him, on her Gameboy. It was around 9pm, Noodle's usual bedtime, but Murdoc was never one to enforce the bedtime rule. Around a half hour later, Murdoc felt a soft thump on his side, and noticed that Noodle had fallen asleep and was now partially laying on top of him.

Murdoc raised an eyebrow, debating whether to push her off or not. Deciding against it, he took the Gameboy from her hands, shifted into a more comfortable position, and decided to go to sleep himself.

Around 11pm, Murdoc awoke to the sound of a knock on the door. He normally would have just yelled "Fuck off!" and gone back to sleep, but he didn't want to wake Noodle. Murdoc carefully moved away from the small girl and got up to answer it.

On his way to the door, he briefly wondered who would be at the door this late at night. Kong never got too many visitors, mostly due to all the zombies and ghosts. And at 11pm on Christmas day? Something was definitely off. Murdoc shrugged off any worry. He could probably take anyone who would try and cause him any harm. And if not, he had a little 10 year old ninja in the other room. He would be fine.

Murdoc opened the door and immediately regretted that last thought.

On the other side of the door were two people Murdoc Niccals knew all too well. The two people that have haunted his nightmares for as long as he could remember.

"'Ello Murdoc." his father greeted him. Murdoc attempted to slam the door on them. But Jacob Sebastian Niccals stuck his foot in the doorway. "Now, what kind of welcome is that for your dear old Dad?"

"Forget it Dad, he's not going to let us in." Murdoc's brother Hannibal said as he flipped his hair out of his eyes and crossed his arms. Jacob glared at him.

Murdoc had not talked to his family in a good number of years. For good reason. He wanted no part of whatever hole they had crawled out of. But, he should have seen this coming. He couldn't run from them forever.

"What are you two doing here?" Murdoc spat. "Come to off me so you can inherit all my money?"

"Of course not Murdoc, you're so dramatic." Jacob said, "And besides, if I wanted you dead you'd be dead already..." He added under his breath.

"So what do you want?"

"Well it's funny," Jacob waved his cane at his son,"Here I was, on Christmas day of all days, cold, alone, in debt, and without a drop of alcohol to be seen." He hunched over and began to shiver and cough, "When who but my dear son Hannibal comes to me like a savior in the night." He grabbed his older son by the shoulders, "He comes to me, and he says 'Father! Oh father! I've found dear brother Murdoc!'"

Murdoc rolled his eyes as his father continued his story, "And I say, 'Murdoc? *cough* Has my precious child finally returned to me after all these years?'"

Murdoc glanced at Hannibal, and could see that his brother seemed to be enjoying this display as little as he was.

"So, Hannibal shows me a picture of you and your band of Monkeys or somesuch, and I thought, why, my sweet son Murdoc has grown up quite nicely! I always knew he would amount to greatness! And must have quite a bit of money now, so as his long lost father, I simply must go to him and assist him in...managing his finances."

Murdoc frowned. That explains it. The second Murdoc became anything coming close to famous, those two show up to mooch off him. He should have seen this coming. Or at least, that would explain why one of them was there. Murdoc turned to Hannibal, "Homeless again, are we?"

Hannibal rolled his eyes, "I'm in between live-in girlfriends, yes."

Murdoc noticed his father walking with a slight limp and pointed to Jacob's cane, "Say, that's new. Someone shoot you?"

Jacob frowned, "Why, yes, actually. I don't get around as much as I used to. All the more reason I need your help, Murdoc."

"So wot is it exactly that you two want?" Murdoc was getting impatient and wanted to go back to sleep.

Jacob put his arm around Murdoc's shoulders, "I thought you'd never ask, lad!" He gestured to his tattered coat, "As you can see, your brother and I have recently fallen on hard times, and I was wondering if my own little boy could provide us with...a little slice of his new life as a celebrity." Jacob dug his nails into Murdoc's shoulder and his voice dropped to a whisper, "You wouldn't deny your old man that, would you? After everything I've done for you?"

Murdoc pulled away from his father. He wasn't going to let this happen. Not again. "Sebastian, there's no way-"

"Ah ah ah!" Jacob looked over his shoulder. "It's Jacob in this neighborhood."

"Wotever. There's no way in 'ell I'm lettin' you two leech of my band like the parasites you are! Now get out of my-!"

"Murdoc-san?" Noodle rubbed her eyes and appeared before Murdoc.

"Why Murdoc!" Jacob smiled widely. He had gotten him now. "How come you never told me I had grandchildren?"

Murdoc snatched Noodle away before his father could lay a hand on her. "You don't. She's not mine, she's in the band."

"Oh!" Jacob bent down to Noodle's eye level. "She must be a talented little lady, then, hm?" Jacob dug in his pockets. He pulled out a small wooden yo-yo and handed it to Noodle. "Here you go, lass, have fun!"

Noodle smiled and took the yo-yo. She spun it around a few times and giggled. She tugged on Murdoc's pant leg. "Murdoc-san's family?"

"Yes!" Jacob said before Murdoc could answer. "My name is Jacob Sebastian Niccals, and this," He grabbed Hannibal's arm and yanked him over, "Is my son Hannibal, Murdoc's brother. We were hoping if we could stay here for a bit. You know, catch up, discuss business, get back on our feet, all that. We hopefully won't stay long. We just missed Murdoc so very much, and we haven't seein him for such a long time, we had to come and visit him. It's Christmas you know, a time for family."

Noodle looked at Jacob, confused. Murdoc sighed, "You're talking too fast, she can't understand you."

Jacob looked down at Noodle, mildly disgusted. "Right." He cleared his throat. "We." He gestured to himself and Hannibal. "Family." He pointed to Murdoc. "We." He gestured to himself and Hannibal once again. "Stay." He pointed to the floor. "Here?" He gestured to all of Kong Studios.

Noodle nodded, "Murdoc-san's family can stay. Then Murdoc-san won't be angry all the time!"

"Well, there we have it! Hannibal, get the bags." Jacob began to walk in before being stopped by Murdoc. "Not so fast. She doesn't get to decide this, I do."

"Come on Murdoc, we both know you're just going to give in eventually." Hannibal said, beginning to get sick of this conversation. "You always do."

Noodle smiled and looked up at Murdoc. "Murdoc-san say he lost family. Now family found!"

Murdoc looked down at Noodle, "You don't get it, these two are some of the worst people you could ever possibly have the misfortune to come into contact with." Murdoc half expected that to set off Jacob and make him go into a blind fury. Insulting him had always done so in the past. But Jacob just looked there, a pleading look in his eye. That was odd.

Noodle pointed up at Murdoc, "But Russu-san say that about you."

"Well, yeah but, that, that's different-" Murdoc stammered. Hannibal chuckled and Murdoc shot him a look.

"Listen Murdoc," Jacob continued, "We just need a place to stay. I assure you that everything that has happened between us will not interfere with this visit."

"Give them chance?" Noodle stared up at Murdoc.

Murdoc sighed deeply, "Fine, wotever. I don't care."

Jacob and Noodle smiled. "Thank you, Murdoc, I really do appreciate it."

Murdoc didn't buy that for a single second. "Follow me." Murdoc grunted as he walked over to one of the guest rooms, closely followed by Jacob, Hannibal, and Noodle.

"You can stay in here. Don't get comfortable."

Jacob nodded, "Thank you again Murdoc...Hm, isn't it a bit late for the girl?"

Murdoc sighed, he had already lost this battle. "You're right. Noodle, get on back ta' bed."

Noodle bowed and waved goodbye to Murdoc's family. She then skipped away to her room.

The second Noodle was out of earshot, Jacob grabbed Murdoc's arm, twisted it behind his back, and forced him up against the nearest wall. "Let's get this out of the way now," He twisted his arm further, causing Murdoc to let out a growl of pain, "Do _not_ get in my way. Understood?" Murdoc grunted in agreement, more out of habit than anything else. Jacob then released his son and dusted off his hands as Murdoc fell to the floor. "Come, Hannibal. It _is_ rather late." Hannibal took their bags and followed his father into the guest room, spitting in Murdoc's direction.

Murdoc leaned against the wall, nursing his newly bruised arm. He had hoped that his past would never come back to haunt him, although he'd always known that that was unrealistic, especially with the type of past he'd had. Looks like there was nothing to do now but suck it up and deal with it. He had to, for Gorillaz's sake.

It was gonna be a long week.


	3. Chapter 3

Murdoc opened his eyes the next morning to a loud high-pitched noise. He had fallen asleep on the floor where his father had left him. He stood up and noticed that his back hurt like hell. But that was the least of his worries at the moment. He had been awoken by a shriek. Noodle.

Murdoc swore he felt his heart stop, right then and there. However, that didn't stop him from running at full speed toward the source of that scream. If either of those filthy bastards laid a _hand_ on Noodle, he would murder them, no questions asked. I mean, he needed her, for his band. He slammed open the door to the kitchen, where he had heard the scream.

Noodle was sitting in her chair, playing with her new yo-yo as Jacob told her jokes. The scream was her laughter. Relief washed over Murdoc. She was okay.

Murdoc smelled the air. It smelled...good. Delicious even. He glanced over to the stove and found Hannibal cooking breakfast. "Did we wake you, little brother?" He said in a condescending tone. Murdoc sat down at the table next to Noodle. "Since when can you cook?" Murdoc recalled a few times when Hannibal had made food for him when they were younger, but he was never very _good_ at it.

Hannibal shrugged, "New hobby I picked up two girlfriends ago."

Murdoc sat down at the table and stared at Hannibal. Hannibal Niccals was a strange man. Despite being a few years older than Murdoc, Hannibal still enjoyed dressing like a 17 year old that worked at Hot Topic. Murdoc hasn't seen his brother without his skinny jeans and facial piercings in a good twenty years. He was a bit taller than Murdoc, his thick black hair swept over one of his eyes, and he had a generally more haggered look to him. But Murdoc supposed that living with their father for so long was responsible for that.

While Murdoc discovered his religion and alcohol to cope with his father, Hannibal discovered cocaine and blondes to do the same.

Murdoc had many other half siblings besides Hannibal, but they all moved out/ran away/mysteriously disappeared before Murdoc really had a chance to remember them. Hannibal was the one he talked to most as a child and the only one, as far as he knew, to not completely break ties with their father. As far as Murdoc was concerned, Hannibal was his only brother.

Hannibal brought over their food and sat down besides Murdoc. Jacob was still telling jokes to Noodle, so when he wasn't looking, Murdoc switched plates with his father.

"Stop it," Hannibal nudged him, "I'm not going to poison you."

"Can never be to careful, hehehe..." Murdoc grumbled as he began eating. It actually tasted pretty good. Murdoc could even say that it rivaled Russel's cooking, but he certainly wasn't going to tell Hannibal that.

Murdoc then looked around and noticed that this was the first time that his family had ever sat down and ate together since, well, ever. Something was wrong. He glanced over at Noodle. She seemed alright, content even. Which was strange, because Murdoc had never seen a child smile within 100 meters of his father.

And what was with his father anyway? He was being surprisingly civil around Noodle, especially considering that there were currently no witnesses to whatever he did to her, besides Murdoc of course, but Jacob had no problem keeping him quiet. Murdoc had only ever seen him this non-threatening when he was drunk or when the police were involved. Unless he was trying to lull Noodle into a false sense of security, but what would be the point of that? What could possibly want from her that he couldn't simply take by force?

Maybe he had just changed.

But the fresh bruise on his arm told a different story.

"Murdoc-san alright?" Noodle asked from beside him. Murdoc noticed that he had been violently stabbing his eggs with a fork.

"What? Oh, yeah luv, I'm fine." Murdoc said as he began shovelling the food into his mouth. There was nothing he could do right now besides keep a very close eye on Noodle until 2D and Russel returned. Which meant staying sober all week. Great.

Later that day, Jacob was reclining on the sofa in the living room, his feet on the table and eyes glued to the tv. Hannibal was sitting beside him, with Murdoc sitting in an armchair on the other side of the room, keeping a close eye on the both of them. Noodle was up in her room. "Murdoc!" Jacob called out, "What's a man gotta do to get a bloody beer around here?"

Murdoc grumbled and stood up, being stopped by Hannibal, "Get me one too, would you little brother?" Murdoc grunted in agreement. He went to the fridge and got three beers and gave two of them to Jacob and Hannibal.

"Oh!" Jacob mused, "You have the _fancy_ stuff! Being famous really does have it's perks doesn't it?"

Murdoc sneered, not caring about whatever his father was saying. He sat back down in his armchair and drank his beer. He would definitely need to stay coherent during this week to keep a close eye on Jacob and Hannibal, which mean he had to limit the alcohol. But a beer or two wasn't going to do any harm. Perks of being an alcoholic.

"I must say, Murdoc my boy," Jacob said, sipping his beer, "It's quite the nice place you have here...which makes me wonder why you never offered to share it with your dear old man."

"How much money to do you want?"

"Oh Murdoc, I would _never_ -"

Murdoc looked to Hannibal, "How much money does he want?" Hannibal shrugged.

Jacob chuckled, "Always one to cut to the chase, are we?" Jacob waved his hand around, "Oh, you know, a hundred here, two hundred there...I'm much more interested in this mansion of yours! Quite a step up from that dirty old place you grew up in."

"You can't have it. It belongs to all of Gorillaz, not just me."

Jacob raised an eyebrow, "I'm fairly certain something can be worked out. But for now, I'm only looking for a bit of rest and relaxation. Living in that run down shack with Hannibal has been driving me mad."

"Pssh," Hannibal blew his hair out from in front of his eye, "I was hardly ever there."

Jacob glared at his older son as he sipped his beer, "Exactly! Who was there to take care of me in my old, withering state? Lord knows Murdoc wasn't." He looked over to Murdoc, "But that's all going to change now, isn't it?"

Just before Murdoc could spit out some foul and sarcastic answer to his father's remark, Noodle scampered into the room and began searching for something. "Wot're you lookin' for luv?" Murdoc asked the small girl.

"Gameboy."

Oh, right. Murdoc had taken the game system out of Noodle's hands last night. He pointed over to the nearby shelf where he put it. "Over there."

Noodle located her Gameboy on the shelf, but could not reach it. She began to climb on the furniture to get a better reach, but still couldn't quite make it.

"I'll get it for you, lass." Jacob stood up to get the Gameboy, but just then, Noodle fell backwards and into Jacob, causing him to spill his beer all over his coat.

"Gomendesai Jacob-san!" Noodle stammered out. There was a brief moment of silence before Murdoc bolted out of his chair, ready to stand in between Noodle and whatever wrath was brewing in his father's mind.

Jacob plastered on a smile. "Why, it's quite alright, lass." He took off his soiled coat. "I didn't like that coat anyway." He patted Noodle on the head. Murdoc handed Noodle her Gameboy from the shelf and she walked away in shame.

That was it. Murdoc's father was definitely plotting something bigger than just wanting some "rest and relaxation". But Murdoc for the life of him could not figure out what.

That night, after Noodle had gone to sleep, Murdoc did something he hadn't done in quite some time. Sleep in his actual bedroom. It was much closer to Noodle than his Winnebago, and still had some of his stuff in it. He figured he could dash over to Noodle's room much quicker if the need arose.

However, on the way to his room that night, he ran into none other than Jacob. He had to talk to him. Murdoc stopped him in the hall. "Wot the 'ell do you think you're doing?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Jacob played innocent.

"You know wot I mean. Playin' all nice around Noodle. Yur up to somethin' and I want to know wot."

"Murdoc, why would me being nice to my young hostess imply that I was up to something?"

"You and I both know that you're not acting like you usually do."

Jacob smiled, "You want me to act how I usually do, hm?" Jacob yanked Murdoc's feet out from under him with his cane. He fell to the floor with a loud thud. Jacob put his shoe on Murdoc's chest. "Listen here, boy." He dug his heel into Murdoc's ribs, causing Murdoc to howl in pain. "If you know what's good for you, you'll mind your own damn business and _stay out of my way_." Jacob hit Murdoc over the head with his cane, continuing to dig into his chest with the heel of his boot.

Jacob hit Murdoc with his cane, causing Murdoc to begin to go into a slight daze. Jacob lifted up Murdoc's chin. "Consider this a warning." He hopped off the younger man and walked away with a scoff.

Murdoc really needed a drink.

Jacob Sebastian Niccals was a cruel, heartless man. That being said, he was no fool. He always got what he wanted, no matter what the cost. And right now, what he wanted was Murdoc's life. His easy life as a celebrity. Money, fame, and beautiful women. Getting Murdoc to give him this would not be very hard, but Jacob wanted more than that. Being able to control one celebrity was fine, but why not four?

If he played his cards right, he could have all of Gorillaz in the palm of his hand.

The girl was probably too young to have any influence on the band now, but that would change. And right now, she adored him. And if that ever changed, Jacob knew other ways to _persuade_ little girls. But he wouldn't touch her just yet. He'd done this before, and he knew how Murdoc worked. If he did anything now, Murdoc would snap; chase him out, and his plan would be ruined.

The singer he could leave to Hannibal. The two lanky, troubled, "tragically beautiful", music enthusiasts would get alone fine. Instant blood brothers. And the singer could no doubt do Jacob a few favors.

The drummer was a bit of a wildcard. Jacob wasn't sure what he was like, and he seemed strong enough to be able to do some serious damage to him. He would have to approach this one very carefully, and be sure to get on the large man's good side.

That just left Murdoc. Murdoc would no doubt be the easiest to control. Jacob had already broken him. Doing it again wouldn't be hard, as long as he was careful. However, he was just worried that he might be tempted to spill the beans.

Which brought Jacob to the second phase of his plan. To turn the band against Murdoc. Make his son look crazy. Who, _him_? Why would _Jacob_ do anything wrong? Murdoc simply had a few too many drinks. Jacob had kept the boy quiet for 16 years, he could do so a little longer.

Jacob Sebastian Niccals always gets what he wants.

* * *

There's a quote from an obscure book in this chapter...comment if you find it...


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days just sort of...happened. Murdoc kept a close eye on Jacob and Hannibal, which meant no drugs, sex, _limited_ amounts of alcohol, and no sleeping downstairs in his winne. But Murdoc would have done it a thousand times if it meant saving Noodle from the horrors that Jacob had done to him.

Except, Noodle didn't need saving. She seemed happy as always, and at no point was she alone with Jacob or Hannibal for an extended period of time. They both seemed to be being... _nice_ to her. Murdoc spent the entire week pondering what Jacob could possibly be up to. Even if he did just want a place to stay and some of Murdoc's money and nothing more, he wasn't acting like himself. Murdoc had never seen his father so well behaved.

Except when he was up to something.

Unfortunately, this good behavior was strictly reserved for Noodle. Jacob took care to give Murdoc periodic reminders that he was still in charge, and not to get too comfortable. Every time Noodle escaped earshot, Murdoc would have to deal with a punch to the gut or a blow to his head from the old man's cane. But Murdoc couldn't exactly say that he wasn't expecting that. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but he could handle it.

Hannibal on the other hand, was as meek as always. He disappeared often throughout the week. This didn't worry Murdoc, however, as Hannibal often disappeared for days at a time throughout their childhood. Murdoc would occasionally receive an offhand taunt or jab from his brother, but nothing more. And he generally avoided Noodle as well. While Murdoc didn't particularly _like_ Hannibal, he knew that his brother wouldn't do anything too bad. One could call it loyalty, or one could call it mutual respect and lack of interest.

And just like that, the week was over. Murdoc had made it, albeit with a few new bruises and raised anxiety levels, and Russel and 2D would be returning.

2D was driving away from his parents house and decided to pick up Russel from the airport on his way back to Kong, so they would be arriving together.

"Yo Muds! Noodle! We're back!" Russel's voice boomed throughout Kong as the two walked through the door. Soon Noodle came scampering down to the door to meet them. "Russu-san! Toochie-san! Okaeri!" She ran over to hug them.

2D patted her on the head. "'Ello luv. 'ow was your Christmas?"

Noodle nodded, "Good. Played with Murdoc-san!"

2D chuckled, "You got Mu'doc out of his Winnebago? 'e must really be feelin the Christmas spirit!"

Just then, Jacob and Hannibal entered the room.

"Oy Noods, who are they?" 2D asked.

Noodle smiled and pointed to the two men. "Murdoc-san's family!"

Jacob smiled, _Let the games begin,_ he thought to himself. "Hello! My name is Jacob Sebastian Niccals, I am Murdoc's father." Jacob elbowed Hannibal in the side. "Oh, yeah I'm Hannibal. I'm Murdoc's brother." he muttered.

"Pleasure to meet the two of you!" Jacob held out a green hand to shake, but Russel gave him a high five instead.

"Yo, Muds never told us he had a family! Every time we ask him about it he usually gets pretty upset."

Jacob pretended to look sad, "Ah, yes, well, I'm afraid that Murdoc's childhood was not the best one. Having to deal with the death of his mother at a young age, along with being terribly bullied in school...not to mention that we never had much money in the house. It's understandable why he wouldn't want to remember it..." He paused for effect, "...which brings me as to why we're here. As you can see, I'm getting up in the years, and money is getting scarcer and scarcer. Hannibal and I were recently booted out of our apartment, so Murdoc reluctantly allowed us to stay here until we get back on our feet. I do hope that is alright with the two of you."

Russel smiled, "Ay, of course man! Murdoc's family is our family!"

"Yeah!" 2D agreed.

Jacob smiled once again, "Excellent!"

It was then that Murdoc also entered the room.

2D and Russel quickly noticed was that Murdoc was quite paler that normal and looked exhausted. He seemed to be a bit more skiddish than usual as well.

"Ello Mu'doc. You alright?" 2D examined the bassist, "Ya don't look too good."

Murdoc rolled his eyes, "I'm fine. I see you all 'ave met."

"Oh yes!" Jacob continued, "Murdoc, you must tell me what _you_ did to get such nice friends!"

"'e 'it me with a car, and 'e kidnapped Russel." 2D said with a smile.

Jacob burst into laughter, not entirely sure whether the bluenette was joking or not. "Oh, Hannibal, Murdoc, be dears and help these two with their bags, they must be exhausted."

Murdoc and Hannibal, obviously not wanting to be bothered but not wanting to deal with their father even more, sighed and stood up. Russel and 2D chuckled at this once in a lifetime opportunity, and handed Murdoc their bags.

"Careful Muds, fragile stuff in there!" Russel laughed and threw his bag at Murdoc.

"Go ta 'ell." Murdoc grumbled as he caught it. He walked with Russel down one hallway, and Hannibal and 2D went down another.

Russel tapped him on the shoulder. "Yo Muds, seriously though, you alright? Look a little on edge."

"I'm fine." he lied. "Let it go." He walked into Russel's room, dropped the bags on the floor, and left without another word.

"Huh, what's his problem?" Russel said to himself as he began to unpack.

Meanwhile, Hannibal was closely following 2D to his room, carrying his bags.

"So..." 2D stared at Hannibal as they walked down the hall toward his room. "You're Mu'doc's brotha?"

Hannibal nodded. "Yeah."

"Wot was 'e like as a kid?"

Hannibal shrugged. "About the same as he is now, except even more of a pain."

2D chuckled. "Don't really see how 'fat one's possible."

"Trust me, it is." There was a pause. "So, why don't you have any eyeballs?" Hannibal asked him.

"Oh, I do, fey're just black." He pointed to his left eye, "Fis one is from when Mu'doc crashed his car into me local keyboard shop. Put me right into a coma it did." He pointed to his right eye, "And fis one is from when I slammed frough the windshield of Mu'doc's car after he forgot to strap me down before doin' some tricks to impress some girls. Brought me back 'round, though. That's when he started callin' me 2D, after the two dents he put in me head."

"Sounds like him, yeah." Hannibal replied as he put down 2D's bags in his room and leaned against a wall. "You must not like him very much then, huh?"

"Who Mu'doc? Nah, he's my best mate. If it wasn't for him, I'd still be boring ol' Stu Pot polishin' keyboards down in that ol' shop." 2D said as he plopped down on his bed and started unpacking.

That answer shocked Hannibal a bit. Had he been put in the same situation, he would not have been so forgiving. "So you and Murdoc are pretty close, eh?"

2D nodded, "Yeah, except when he hits me. Which is, a lot. But he doesn't mean it, he's just angry."

This came as no surprise to Hannibal. As much as he would hate to admit it, Murdoc had inherited quite a few things from his father, such as his aggressive and violent behavior. Hannibal was ashamed to admit that he had inherited a few things too.

"So...Hannibal, don't take this the wrong way but...why is your whole family...green?"

Hannibal blinked and scratched his head. "Uh, to be honest, I don't really know. Me and Murdoc are only green when we tan, but I dunno about Dad. He's always just been like that."

"Oh...by the way, are you really the reason Mu'doc's nose looks like it does?"

Hannibal nodded, "More or less."

"Did you really break it just cause 'e touched your turntables?"

Hannibal rolled his eyes, "That's always what he tells people. But I _told_ him I would kill him if he touched them. He was lucky I _didn't_ kill him, those things were the most expensive things I owned. I didn't want his grubby little mitts all over them." He scoffed, "I did him a favor too, you should have _seen_ what he looked like before that."

"Really?"

Hannibal nodded, "His nose looked just like Dad's. All long and narrow. He looked like a bloody greenbean, let me tell ya'. You don't know how lucky I am to have gotten my mum's nose." He rubbed his normal looking nose thankfully.

2D laughed, picturing Murdoc with the long spindly nose of his father. Eventually, he stopped laughing and looked up at Hannibal, "Why is he so cranky all the time?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

2D smiled, "Yep, sure do!"

Hannibal stared at 2D, suddenly understanding why Murdoc occasionally hits him. Hannibal shrugged, "I dunno. We had a piss poor childhood. Let's leave it at that."

2D nodded and furrowed his brow trying to think for a way to continue the conversation. "So what do you do?"

"I went into the family business."

"What's 'the family business'?"

Hannibal cleared his throat and recited what he did every time anyone asked that, "Becoming a notorious booze hound, gambler, womanizer, and a general 'Ne'er-do-well'. Always avoiding work, no matter what the cost."

2D had to laugh at that as well. Hannibal continued, "Or at least, that's what I do on the week days. In my free time I like to make music."

"You're into music too?"

Hannibal chuckled, "Heh, who do you think taught Murdoc everything he knows? When we were kids, _I_ was the talented one, you know."

2D was stunned, "Really?"

"Yeah, watch this." Hannibal looked around and found one of 2D's keyboards on the floor. He picked it up and placed it on a stand and began to play.

"Cool!" 2D said as he joined in on another keyboard, and the two continued playing the song together.

When it was over, Hannibal and 2D laughed and bumped fists.

"I like you, Hannibal. You're like Mu'doc, but less grumpy."

"Thanks, I like you too, 2D was it?"

2D smiled and nodded.

Just then, Hannibal heard his father's voice from down the hall. "Oh Han! Mind coming here for a moment please?"

Hannibal sighed, he didn't want to leave. Not yet. He was just starting to enjoy himself. A rare occasion in his life. "Gotta go. Later 2D." He said as he began to walk out.

"Wait!" 2D called after him, "Since you're gonna be stayin' here, maybe we could jam some time?"

Hannibal's face lit up, "Sounds cool." He said as he left the room.

2D was nice. A simple guy, but nice. Hannibal tried not to get too attached. He never kept friends. That was usually his father's fault. His father usually made him betray his friends one way or another for his own benefit. And now that would no doubt happen with 2D.

He should probably go tell his father that his plan was working.


End file.
